Presbyterian Church allows same-sex marriage
SYDNEY, N.S. — Rev. Darryl MacDonald wasn't sure he would see the day the Christian church that tried to excommunicate him would open its doors to same-sex marriage.
But the Sydney native has, and the former Presbyterian minister thinks it is a step in the right direction.
"I was really happy that they made that decision and especially that they passed all the recommendations (made by the Rainbow Communion special listening committee)," said MacDonald, who is gay and now a minister with the United Church of Canada in Quebec.
At the Presbyterian Church in Canada's general assembly, held virtually June 6-9, the regional representatives voted in favour of making changes to theology and practices around marriage.
There are now two accepted definitions of marriage in the church: between a consenting man and woman; and between two consenting adults.
Ministers and congregations can choose which definition they will adhere to. Those that use both will be able to have LGBTQ+ weddings at their churches and nuptials performed by Presbyterian ministers.
Consisting of an equal number of ministers and congregation members, the June general assembly voted 60 per cent in favour of the changes, which also allows LGBTQ+ people to be ordained.
Rev. Ian Ross MacDonald, a general secretary in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, said this change came after decades of study and discussions in the church.
"How this works out locally will be decided locally," he said from Dartmouth.
On Wednesday, the Cape Breton Post started calling Presbyterian churches in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, including Bethel Presbyterian Church in Sydney, to speak with local ministers about their views on the changes.
After calling and leaving messages at Bethel Church on Thursday because it was believed Rev. Robert Lyle had attended the general assembly earlier this month, Lyle phoned back.
He said local Presbyterian Church in Canada ministers met the night before and they had voted to not speak publicly about the decision at this time.
Rev. Darryl MacDonald said the church hierarchy is likely concerned about the reaction from conservative members of the faith.
“I’m sure they are probably worried that some members of the congregation will leave or want to leave or be upset or whatever. It’s just, after a year and a half of a deadly pandemic, this is what you have to worry about?” said MacDonald, who is a former member of Bethel Church.
“If the priorities are on who is loving who, then the church they just need to, I mean really, they just need to close down. They’re done. I mean, how long is Christianity going to allow this type of, just, lack of love? I don’t understand why it’s an issue.”
REVEREND DARRYL’S STORY
The decision made by the general assembly came after the Rainbow Communion released its final report this spring.
A special listening committee created to hear LGBTQ+ experiences in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and harms this caused, the Rainbow Communion heard from 139 people over a couple of years.
Darryl MacDonald was one of them, sharing his story about when St. Anthony’s in Lachine, a suburb of Montreal, wanted him as their minister knowing he was a gay man.
It was the mid 1990s and the McGill University and Presbyterian College graduate had been active with the Montreal Presbytery for 10 years, licensed by them, when he applied to be minister at St. Anthony’s Presbyterian Lachine.
Feeling he was a perfect fit, in April 1995, St. Anthony’s congregation told the Montreal Presbytery they wanted to call MacDonald to their church and have him ordained. The presbytery approved after a vote; twothirds majority agreed it was a Gospel call.
Then the Presbyterian Church in Canada dissented because MacDonald is gay and it was brought to the grand assembly in 1996, which voted 227-24 against him being ordained.
This decision was appealed, and MacDonald was given permission to stay on as a part-time interim supply staff, overseeing church services so the congregation wouldn’t be left without a minister.
The appeal committee consisted of nine members, who in 1998, voted 5-4 in favour of not ordaining MacDonald and removing him from the pulpit. They also forbade him from serving in any position of power in the church — even choir leader.
“They basically cut me out completely,” he said. “All I could do was sit in the pew.”
This decision led to St. Anthony’s congregation choosing to support MacDonald over the denomination. Both the church and minister were forced to become nondenominational for years before both joined the United Church of Canada. St. Anthony’s is now Summerlea United Church.
HOMOPHOBIA REMAINS?
MacDonald sees the changes as positive steps toward LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Presbyterian church but thinks the two definitions of marriage not only opens the doors to same sex marriages, but it also gives some ministers and congregations ammunition to keep them closed.
“They’re allowing people to maintain the old system of homophobia and hatred,” he said.
“What happens if the congregation says they want to have the couple who grew up in their church married, the two guys or the two girls to get married, and the minister says, ‘No, that’s a sin against God.’ Now the minister and the congregation don’t see eye-to-eye and that’s not good.”
Rev. Ian Ross MacDonald said it is a complex topic in the church and the two definitions give freedom to individual ministers and congregations.
“Since there are two definitions, if you chose to define marriage as between a man and a woman and a same-sex couple come and ask to be married you can simply say, ‘You know I am happy for you, congratulations, but I am not able to perform that marriage because that’s not how I define marriage but let me introduce you to a colleague who would be happy to do that,’” said Rev. Ian Ross MacDonald, who is no relation to Rev. Darryl MacDonald.
“There are two separate definitions, and both are equally valid, and people get to choose.”
Darryl MacDonald would like to see all churches accept all forms of love.
“If you can bless a man and a woman, then at the same time you can bless a man and a man, or a woman and a woman,” he said.
“At this point in my life, if I were to die and go to Heaven and God was to say, ‘Well, you know we don’t let gays in here,’ I would look to God and say, ‘There is something wrong with you buddy.’ …If that’s the God you’re holding onto, then there’s something wrong with you, too.”